1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improvement to an attachment to a ladder, for stabilizing a ladder a spaced distance from a substantially vertical surface.
2. Related Art
Ladder stabilizing devices are used in various forms to stabilize a ladder against substantially vertical surfaces such as walls of various structures by holding the ladder a spaced distance from the surface. The main use of such devices being depicted for use on residential homes to stabilize a ladder against outside walls, and adjacent to fragile surfaces such as windows, eaves, and rain spouts. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,502,566 and 4,823,912. Typically, the devices comprise a pair of support members attached to the side rails or rungs of a ladder. The means of attachment and the difficulty of attachment and removal vary. Some support members are attached to verticle support brackets by nuts and bolts. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,568,801 and 4,331,217. Some are attached to inverted U-shaped supports and vertically supported by chains (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,393,922 and 2,237,596), or the vertical support brackets and support members are made in one piece. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,860 and British Patent Number 629,851). Usually, the vertical supports are attached to the ladder with brackets bolted around rungs (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,860) or are clamped to the side rails (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,566) or by channel brackets which fit over the outerrails of the ladder and are fastened snuggly by a threaded tie-rod extending between the brackets. (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,580,660 and 4,823,912). Some vertical supports are inverted U-shaped brackets which fit over two or more rungs of the ladder to provide for easy attachment and removal. (See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,331,217 and 3,568,801).
All ladder stabilizing devices achieve their purpose of holding a ladder away from the vertical supporting surface in some fashion. Problems can arise however, with some devices which have their support members at right angles to the ladder rather than at right angles to the bearing surface, thus putting more strain in rotation on the connections between the supporting members at the ladder.
Other problems with these devices involve the number of parts to assemble; the difficulty of attaching and removing the device from the ladder; and the cost of manufacturing the entire assembly.